This Week’s Syriac Youth Death Toll: 15-year-old Syriac killed in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square Protests. Syriac Student killed after Bomb Explosion in Damascus

Bagdad, Damascus – A 15-year old Syriac was killed after being shot by a shotgun while participating in the protests on Tahrir Square in Baghdad. Another Syriac youth was killed in a car bomb explosion in front of the al-Sham Private University in the al-Baramkeh neighborhood of Damascus.

Rimon Rayan Salem died of a shrapnel from a hunting rifle while participating in protests on Tuesday in Tahrir Square in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. His funeral service was held in the presence of family, priests and faithful in the Syriac Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Deliverance in Baghdad’s Karrada neighborhood. It is reported that the fifteen-year-old Rimon Salem, was kidnapped a few days ago by Iranian-backed militias and was only released last Monday. The Salem family lived in the city of Nohadra, Dohuk (northern Iraq) before moving to Baghdad about a year ago.

In another drama on Tuesday evening, Syriac student of Computer Engineering at al-Sham Private University Roy Macmari was killed after a bomb, planted by unknown persons, exploded in a car parked in front of his university’s headquarters in the al-Baramkeh area in the center of Damascus. According to Syrian state media, the explosive device was attached to a Hyundai civilian vehicle near the Tishreen stadium in Damascus.

In a statement on Facebook, the University of al-Sham expressed its sadness and regret about the death of the innocent second-year student of Computer Engineering Roy and extended its condolences to his family.

Roy Macmari was a member of the Syriac Melkite Orthodox Church from the village of Pershin, Hama countryside. He leaves behind his father Marwan Macmari, a sister and two brothers. His mother Hana Bashour was killed in March 2018 in an explosion after a bomb shell in the Kashkool neighbourhood of ​​Damascus.